


Headed Deep Into the Forest

by Theoroark



Series: Nobody's Fault [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Omnic Crisis, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-29
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-18 23:32:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17590496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theoroark/pseuds/Theoroark
Summary: Ana Amari joining Overwatch, and leaving her old world behind.





	Headed Deep Into the Forest

General Masry asks her during Farid’s funeral. Ana would be put off by that kind of insensitivity, but it’s wartime, and she imagines she would have done the same in Masry’s shoes. In any case, the thing’s already pretty miserable, even for a funeral. Farid’s body isn’t here, which is why his grandparents won’t stop wailing. Farid received a bionic eye implant alongside Ana. Masry recruited them both. Masry told Ana they had to examine the body and extract the eye before they could bury it. As Farid’s commanding officer, Ana had to tell the family. 

 

Masry doesn’t want to talk about Farid, though. She wants to talk about the war. Ana can see her trying to catch her eye all during the service, even when she’s delivering her eulogy. She hopes any grimacing she did at the podium came off as grief and not annoyance. After the service, Masry makes a beeline for her, and Ana sighs and excuses herself from her muted conversation with Farid’s sister. Might as well get this over with. 

 

“I have an opportunity for you,” Masry tells her, once she’s squirreled Ana away to a side hall in the mosque. “A big one. Are you ready?”

 

“The last opportunity you had for me had them pulling out my eye. I’m going to need a bit more background this time.”

 

Masry rolls her eyes and takes out her holovid. “The UN’s organizing an elite military task force,” she says, pulling up an email and handing the device to Ana. “They want you to be a part of it.”

 

Ana scrolls through the email. “Top Secret,” “highly experimental,” and “total jurisdiction,” jump out at her. She frowns. “This seems likely to violate all kinds of international sovereignty laws. And like. Laws in general.”

 

“We’re at war, Amari. I don’t think anyone’s going to pitch a fit about crossing borders if it keeps them alive.”

 

Ana doesn’t know if she has the same faith in people Masry does. She knows her Egyptians. Hell, she’s an Egyptian. And because of that– “What about my team? We’ve found our footing. We’re holding the line. I don’t want to risk that.”

 

Masry puts a hand on her shoulder. “Yeah, you’re holding the line,” she says. “But you can’t hold it forever. We can’t hold forever. We need to put them on the back foot. We need to begin the end of this war, Amari.” She squeezes her shoulder. “If you really want to protect Egypt, that’s what you’ll do.”

 

Ana nods, a little numb. Masry’s right, she’s sure. And Ana’s only other reservation– that she doesn’t want to leave her team or her home, because she loves them– is too selfish to vocalize. So she says, “Okay.”

 

-

 

Gabrielle Adawe is sitting at the head of the table when Ana enters the UN building’s conference room. Her headscarf is a brilliant violet against the stark black and white of her suit, and she doesn’t look up from the smart table screen she’s tapping at when Ana sits down. “Captain Amari,” she says, sparing a glance in Ana’s direction. “I hope you’ve been well.”

 

“Thank you, you as well.” Ana looks around the room but there’s only a single other person filling one of the six chairs. The Strike Team Commander Masry briefed her on, in all likelihood. American, around her age, very successful. Was part of some top secret military program Masry referred to as “some Captain America steroids bullshit.” He doesn’t seem superheroic or unstable though. He doesn’t say anything, but he looks back at Ana when he notices her studying him. She meets his gaze steadily and he breaks first. She probably only sees him smile because of her enhanced vision.

 

“I don’t think we’ve been introduced,” Ana says to his profile.

 

Adawe’s mouth quirks up in a smile. “My namesake,” she says. “Though he pronounces it wrong.” The Commander snorts and reaches a hand across the table.

 

“Strike Commander Gabriel Reyes. Pleasure to meet you.”

 

“Likewise.” Ana shakes his hand. He doesn’t do that balding CEO crush your hand handshake, which wins him points in her book. Adawe finally looks up from her screen and looks between the two of them, then clears her throat. 

 

“What were you told about the Strike Team, Captain?” she asks. 

 

“An elite group. Global jurisdiction. Lean and lethal.” Reyes snorts again, but covers it with a cough when Adawe raises an eyebrow at him. “And you need a sniper.”

 

“That’s all true,” Adawe says. She steeples her fingers. “But do you know the purpose for the team?”

 

Ana frowns. “To conduct precision, high skill strikes on high profile targets. Yes?”

 

“No,” Reyes says. 

 

“No?”

 

“No.” Adawe taps at the table and a globe appears. There are bright red dots, and Ana follows the news enough to recognize them as the sites of the major omniums. But around the world are smaller, green dots. Adawe taps the table again and the green dots glow, then images burst from them. At first glance, Ana thinks they’re just the refugee camps and shantytowns the crisis has birthed. But as she studies them, she realizes– all the people in the pictures are Omnics. 

 

She looks up at Adawe, puzzled. “We didn’t want this war,” Adawe says. “But neither did most of them.” She dips a finger in the globe and spins it leisurely, staring at the pictures. “The Omnic soldiers you fight are possessed by much more powerful god program Omnics. The ones outside of that control, they…” 

 

She stops her spinning. There’s a picture right in front of her of an Omnic huddled in a sliver of shade, somewhere dry and sunny. “They’re not human,” she says. “But they’re not unsentient. They don’t want to die and they don’t want to kill, most of them. So if we take out the god programs and keep as many of the civilian Omnics alive as possible, we win the war. We can’t win this war by exterminating the Omnics. We could exterminate them, maybe. But that wouldn’t be winning.” She puts her palm down on the table abruptly. Ana almost jumps in her seat. “That is the Strike Team’s purpose. Is that yours as well, Captain?”

 

Ana looks across the table at Reyes. She knows America has been hit hard by the crisis– the South especially, but the Eastern seaboard isn’t doing great either. Egypt’s struggling too. Cairo in particular. Ana’s too many friends and family die at the hands of Omnics. The U.S. is a bigger place, but she has to imagine Reyes has too. 

 

He gives nothing away, and she can tell that’s purposeful on his part. Ana thinks about what Adawe told her, about the Omnics cowering in tent cities. She’s thought about what the world might look like after the Crisis, sometimes. Usually she’s focused on how the world will rebuild. But Adawe’s right. Either Omnics will be part of their future, or something unforgivable will forever taint their past. 

 

“Yes,” Ana tells them. “Yes it is.”

 

The rest of the meeting falls into scheduling and logistics. Afterward, Reyes tells her he’ll walk her back to the tarmac. It seems like kind of an empty gesture to Ana, since they’re going to the same way anyway. But he’s her new boss. She shouldn’t be rude. She keeps her mouth shut. 

 

“What do you think of the under-secretary?” Reyes asks her as they walk.

 

“I’ve never met anyone like her before,” Ana says, and means it. Reyes nods, and seems satisfied with that. “How did you meet her?” she asks.

 

“She was looking for elite military personnel. I qualified.”

 

“Still,” Ana says. “Her plan seems to require more… finesse. The first place I looked wouldn’t be a super soldier program.”

 

Reyes stops in his tracks. Ana calmly turns to him. “The program is supposed to be top secret,” he says.

 

“The program is a running joke for every intelligence agent I’ve met.”

 

Reyes stares at her for a moment longer. Then he laughs, and keeps walking. “I was recruited to the program because of my tactical expertise,” he tells her. She smiles and nods. They exit the building, and step onto the tarmac. There’s an army-green drop ship with an American flag painted on the tail, and a blonde man in blue sitting on the ramp. The man waves at Reyes, and Reyes waves back. “That’s my second in command,” he tells Ana. “Jack Morrison.”

 

Ana looks between Morrison and Reyes. She should keep her mouth shut. She hasn’t met Morrison. She hasn’t even had a briefing on him. But she’s gotten a good look at him and her gut’s pretty good at these things. His big smile and awkward stance let her know he’s a people pleaser, he’s soft, he wouldn’t push back against someone like Reyes, not if they were buddies. “Why?” she asks. 

 

Reyes looks back at her, confused. “What do you mean, why?”

 

“I mean why is he your second in command? You’re still in the process of assembling your team. What leadership experience does he possess?” Reyes stares at her. “I’ve lead an elite sniper team with a sterling track record for years. I’ve implemented maneuvers that are being taught in military schools right now. Surely I’m at least a candidate for consideration, unless he’s some–”

 

“Ana,” Reyes is smiling but it’s not mocking, not to her at least. He looks embarrassed. “It’s, uh. Not really a position. I wasn’t really– I dunno, I just wanted to introduce you to him, he’s a good friend and I trust him a lot, but like– yeah. Not a real thing. Sorry about that.”

 

Ana blinks. “What is the structure of the team, then?”

 

“It’s bullshit,” Reyes says. “We’re making it all up as we go along. It’s all bullshit.” He starts walking towards the ship. “Welcome to Overwatch, Amari.”

 

-

 

It’s one in the morning in Cairo when Ana gets back. She wants to go the hell to sleep but the second her head hits the pillow, she remembers what she has to do and groans. It’s one in Cairo, which means it’s 3 PM in Vancouver. Sam’s probably picking Fareeha up from kindergarten now. She dials him up and sure enough when he picks up, she hears the ambient sounds of a car running in the background.

 

“Hey,” she says. “Am I on speaker?”

 

“No.” He already sounds wary of whatever she has to say. She winces. “How are you doing, Ana?”

 

“Fine,” she says. Conversation. Small talk. Things couples do. Right. “How are you?”

 

“I’m doing okay.” They’re quiet for a moment. Sam sighs. “What’s going on?”

 

“I’m taking a new position. One that means I’ll be traveling a lot. I don’t think I’ll be able to take Fareeha for a while.”

 

“We weren’t planning on that, anyway.”

 

“No, but it was a possibility, and– I don’t think it’s as much of one, now.”

 

“Okay.” They’re quiet again. “What’s the position?” he asks.

 

“It’s classified.”

 

“Oh. Okay.”

 

Ana winces again. “I’ll let you know when I know what I can tell you.”

 

“Okay.” Ana runs a hand over her face. She needs a shower, so bad, but she knows she won’t be able to leave her bed after this.

 

“Do you want to talk to Fareeha?” Sam asks. Ana sits up a little.

 

“Yes,” she says. She hears a beep, and the ambient noise gets louder.

 

“Fareeha, honey,” Sam says. “Your mom’s on the phone.” Ana hears a “hi mommy,” a little ways back and her heart squeezes.

 

“Hi sweetie,” she says. “How are you doing?”

 

“Good,” Fareeha says. “What’s going on?” Ana frowns, then fixes it to a smile, even though Fareeha can’t see her.

 

“Nothing’s going on. I just like talking to my favorite baby girl, is all. How’s school?”

 

“‘s good.”

 

“What’s the most interesting thing you learned this week?”

 

“Umm… you know how Saturn has rings around it?”

 

“I do.”

 

“Those are made out of ice.”

 

“No way!” Ana hugs her knees to her chest. Whenever she tries to sound enthusiastic around Fareeha, she always worries her daughter can smell her insincerity. “That’s so cool, Fareeha.”

 

“Yeah, I think so too.” There’s a beat of silence. Ana struggles for appropriate conversation topics for her six year old. “What’re you doing, mommy?”

 

“Oh, nothing really,” she says. She lies back down. “It’s late here. I had a long day.”

 

“You should go to bed,” Fareeha tells her sagely. “Sleep is good for you.”

 

“You’re right, baby. I should. Just wanted to talk to you before I did.”

 

“Okay,” Fareeha says. “Good night, mommy.”

 

Ana swallows. “Bye, sweetheart,” she says. And after a pause, she remembers, “Bye, Sam.”

 

“Talk to you later, Ana,” he says. And then he ends the call. Ana stares at her blank holovid for a minute before she sets it on her bedside table and turns off her light. She takes a while to fall asleep after that.

 

-

 

Kadin’s part Moroccan. He makes m’smmen Ana’s last morning with the team. They dance around each other in the kitchen, because even though her team says they want to treat her, she doesn’t trust anyone else to make the tea. 

 

“I’m going to miss this,” Leila tells her as she sips her cup. Ana smiles tightly and Leila’s eyes widen, instantly aware she’s swung too close to real feelings too soon. But then Kadin comes in with another round of pancakes and they’re able to let it go. 

 

They all cry later, though. Ana tells them to write. They tell her to as well, if she can, who knows what top secret bullshit Amari’s on now. She hugs them all. She watches them wave goodbye as her car drives away from the base. She knows statistically, some of them won’t be here the next time she’s in Cairo. She tries to memorize their faces, even though their forced smiles aren’t really good looks. She needs to bring some part of the people she loves with her, in case they aren’t here when she gets back. 

 

Reyes is waiting for her at the hangar. He opens her door for her and grabs her bag from the trunk. “I wanted to apologize,” he says as they walk towards the ship. 

 

She frowns up at him. “For what?”

 

“For the, ah…” He waves a hand vaguely in the air. Ana waits. “The other day,” he says. “The thing with Jack. I think I was dismissive to you. I’m sorry.”

 

“Oh,” Ana says. “You weren’t. It’s fine.” They’re next to the plane now. She reaches out to take her bag from Reyes. He doesn’t let go.

 

“No, Ana, hang on.” He sets her bag down on the ground and runs his fingers through his fade. “I… we are a small team, Ana. Operating outside all overview, in incredibly dangerous positions. So we need to trust each other.” Ana watches him. He seems to find his footing a bit, and meets her gaze. “I can’t command you to have rapport with me and every other member of the team. That’s something that takes work and takes time and even then, it might not happen. But it’s what I need for this to work. So I want you to know– I trust you. I know you don’t trust me yet, but I trust you. Because I have to. I want to be sure you know that.”

 

The wind is harsh around them, stirred by the plane’s engines. Ana meets Reyes’s brown eyes and thinks about the team she left. She told them they were family, and she left them. Her family is in Vancouver and she’s not seeing them any time soon. She should tell Reyes that she shouldn’t trust her. But she loves family, and since she keeps leaving hers, she’s in the market for a new one. 

 

She’s selfish. And she knows that’s the real reason Reyes trusts her, too. She gets him, she realizes. Maybe he should trust her, after all. 

 

But in any case– “I trust you,” she says, and means it. Reyes nods, and she knows he’s satisfied with that. 

**Author's Note:**

> A late birthday gift for Axl- follow him on twitter [@_AXLOTL](https://twitter.com/_AXLOTL) if you aren't already you fools!!!
> 
> I'm @tacticalgrandma on twitter/tumblr if you want to talk to me there.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, and any comments/kudos would mean the world to me!


End file.
